竹板凳的漁瘟

WHY! WHY would anyone cancel a show like TSCC?

  In the near future, a group of angry Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicle fans got together and designed a sophisticated AI which turned into Skynet, which then sent back Terminators to early 2009 with a mission to terminate those who canceled TSCC. 

  Rage aside, i love this show as much as I loved Battlestar Galactica.  For franchises started on the simple premise of killer robots chasing people around, both shows discovered deeper subjects to explorer.  While TSCC's exploration of "what it is to be human" is not as prominent as BSG, but when it does, the result is shockingly beautiful.

"They can not appreciate beauty.  They can not create art.  If they ever learn these things, they won't have to destroy us.  They will be us."

Sarah Connor

  Besides "what it is to be human" and "why do people deserve to survive", a topic less tread by BSG is "does fate exist," which is the cornerstone of TSCC.  The protagonists of the show knows of the coming apocalypse.  In fact their main purpose is to survive so John Connor can lead the resistance after doomsday.  Yet, instead of hiding, they go on the offensive to hunt down Skynet and do everything in their power to stop fate to dictate their lives.  "No Fate" makes TSCC the best incarnation out of the Terminator franchise. 

  On top of that, the story line is beautifully woven.  From the pilot till season 2 finale, details in continuity echoes the powerful and thoughtful moments loudly.  Almost everything had a purpose, it's just great storytelling.  Both season 1 and season 2 premiers and finales are TV at its best.  Season 2 premier "Samson & Delilah" can only be described as a masterpiece.

Samson and the lion got entwined in a fight, and Samson he jumped up and took on the lions might.  You all know just how a lion kill a man with his paws.  Well, Samson got his hands up round that lions jaws.  He ripped that beast and he killed him dead.

  The rewritten lyrics of the beautifully arranged Samson & Delilah by Shirley Manson from Season 2 Premier hints at the plot that is significant in Season 2 finale.  The storytelling is meaningful, epic and almost poetic.  Even the episode involving the terminator sent to the 1920s which so many people dissed had a significance to the finale.  Which is Cameron has the ability to detect possible cancer symptoms early by detecting weight loss and ties in with Sarah's fear of her own mortality and that one day she may not be able to protect her son.  And as much as I disliked the Riley character, she served as a very important piece in John Connor's development into a leadership role.

  What annoyed me more than the cancelation is a podcast on TSCC by Geekon.  There are several people on Geekon who are in the TV/Movie business, writers. Actors and animation artists.  You'd think a group of people like this can appreciate the layered story of TSCC.  But instead, only one out the whole group actually gets the story right and ends up defending the story directions. 

  When I say "right", I am not talking about "the pip of the collar isn't a Lt. Commander" kind of geekdom righteousness, but the basic direction of the story.  Several of them accused that TSCC of going overboard with Cameron's emotions and go as far as saying "now she acting human half the time, and she says I love you to him once in a while". 

  It's sad that these claims are simple not true, and yet used as a reason to attack TSCC.  "Samson & Delilah" is the only time Cameron ever says "I love you" to John.  "Alison from Palmdale" is the only episode when she went into infiltration mode due to damages, and acted completely human for half an episode.

Truth or Manipulation?  Was Cameron fixed at this moment?  Or did she need the reboot?

  To disregard a show and promote dissing of a show because of false understandings is just so unfortunate in the scifi universe.  Don't we have enough reality, sitcom, law, hospital or crime investigations shows on TV?  It is hard enough to have a network scifi show, must scifi fans forsake great shows just because there's no Linda Hamilton, Starbuck is a girl or other trivial reasons?  Why be a hater without even getting the gist of the story?  Why not just enjoy great writing and high production value that is so rare on TV?

  Terminators are supposed to infiltrate human resistance.  There is nothing wrong with them mimicking human behavior.  If every Terminator acted like T800, any human with half a brain would recognize that it is a terminator as soon as it speaks.  Skynet might as well stop building them, why even bother with developing newer models?  Where's the infiltration if it can't seem human? 

  I can't believe a show like TSCC gets canceled.  Obviously coming from a scifi and firefly fan who is a bit obsessed with Summer Glau, I am probably biased.  But I just have a hard time believing that shows like Heroes is alive and well while TSCC get canceled.

  Don't get me wrong, I loved Heroes when it first came out.  But the writing on Heroes isn't the same after the writer strike, subsequent seasons lacked the urgency of the first.  And many abrupt stop and changes in storyline and direction made it increasingly a pain to watch.  Yet NBC was able to keep Heroes alive.  Another show prone to use special effects that has atrocious writing is Smallville, a show I follow out of guilty pleasure.  Each episodes of the last season received 4 mil or less viewership.  Yet CW (WB) kept it alive.

  TSCC had much smarter and meaningful stories from the beginning.  And the direction and overall arc is well conceived and didn't need mid-season castration of previous storylines.  What a sad day when it was canceled.  This is worse than the cancelation of Firefly…

  So… who's building Skynet with me?  *Rant over*